Remember the day new England manager Sam Allardyce threw off his shirt and chased an opponent down the tunnel at Huddersfield Town?
Leeds Road fans of a certain generation may well do – and Big Sam’s teammate that day, Julian Winter, certainly does.
Town’s new chief executive Winter, now 50 but only 19 at the time, wore the No10 blue and white striped shirt against Fulham at the old Leeds Road ground.
The match on March 23, 1985, was drawn 2-2 between two unremarkable mid-table Division Two (now Championship) sides.
But what sparked a massive controversy was when Town’s left-back, David Burke, suffered a badly broken leg in a challenge by Welsh international Jeff Hopkins.
Allardyce – Town’s battering-ram No6 who had joined the previous summer – went berserk and waded in to the defence of his stricken colleague.
As Winter recalls: “The one key detail I remember about Sam (as a playing colleague) was the issue when David Burke suffered what was the worst break I have ever seen in football.
“Sam certainly stood up for his teammate!
“He was like a windmill in the middle of it all, with the odd karate kick as well, and when he got sent off he chased the lad down the tunnel.
“My memory of my playing days is fairly limited because I made the conscious decision, when I retired from playing at 27, not to be involved and, for three years, I never set foot in any football club.
“I supposed I mentally turned it all off in that time, but that issue over David Burke’s injury has always stuck with me when there’s talk of Sam Allardyce.”
The Examiner described Hopkins’ challenge on Burke as an “inexcusably wild tackle” and added that Allardyce’s “anger spilled over as he swung blows at the Fulham No5”.
It was reported that several players grappled as “passions and violence became further inflamed”.
Morecambe referee Norman Wilson sent off Hopkins and then Town centre-back Allardyce (Mark Lillis was skipper on the day).
“Order was finally restored,” continued the Examiner report, “and Allardyce left the field after tugging off his jersey and throwing it into the ground in disgust.”
Fulham striker Kenny Achampong was also later sent off in a match which attracted Town’s lowest crowd of the season to that point, 4,843. Lillis and Dale Tempest scored for Town.
Winter added: “Generally, being around Sam, he was fantastic in the dressing room and a great leader.
“He was one of those guys you would have expected to go into management because he had those leadership skills as a player.
“They were skills you recognised would probably translate well into management, which they have for him, and you always felt he would do well.
“The day after David (Burke) broke his leg, four or five of us went up to the hospital to see him – and Sam was the leader in that, the man behind making sure it happened.”
So how does Huddersfield-born Winter – who joined Town in May as successor to Nigel Clibbens (now at Carlisle United) – feel Allardyce will do as national manager?
“Out of all the candidates he is the best from an English point of view and I think he will do fine,” he answered.
“He has got those leadership skills I talked about and he is now hugely experienced, so it’s understandable he should get the chance.”
Burke was out of action for 18 months, returning to the Town starting line-up at Plymouth in November 1986.
He made 223 League and Cup appearances before joining Crystal Palace in October 1987, where one of his new clubmates later became a certain Jeff Hopkins!
After three years at Palace, Burke rejoined first club Bolton Wanderers and made over 100 appearances, before finishing his career at Blackpool.
Winter made 103 appearances for Town before joining Sheffield United (he also had a loan at Scunthorpe), but after 10 operations in four years he called it a day, going into football administration with Grimsby and Watford, before arriving back at Town via Notts County.
